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by GoringWriting



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Life-Affirming Sex, M/M, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Smut, Post-Canon Fix-It, Scorpion bitch bout to die, Spoilers, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:29:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoringWriting/pseuds/GoringWriting
Summary: Alternate Title: I recognize that the writers have made a decision but seeing as it's a stupid decision I have elected to ignore it**Spoilers** for ep 12I don't think I need to tell you what I'm fixingSummary in the notes.Disclaimer: I own no characters, I own nothing, this is all the creation of RoosterTeeth.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 102





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**Author's Note:**

> After Tyrian kills Clover Qrow sinks into a depression. Around the world burns. He's lost himself. A surprise visit to his prison cell may just help him feel happy again.

“No, no. I can’t...I can’t lose anyone else Clover. My sister, my teammate, my team, friends and family, classmates, I can’t lose you too,” Qrow eyes landing on the bloody badge laying there in the white snow. 

He should leave, run and hide somewhere. There’s a ship coming and he’s here with...with Clover and all signs saying he did it. He’ll be arrested, maybe executed. He picks up the badge... a reminder.

But...but he can’t leave Clover here, not alone.

When the ship lands he turns himself in. Lets them cuff him and transport him and Clover back to Atlas. He never moves he doesn’t hear anything the people around him are saying aside from a few words. Medical. Death. Heart. Murder. 

His cell is the smallest one he knows James has. Perfect for him. He spends the first few days staring at the walls of the cell.

Winter visits. She tries to talk to him. Opens the cell door for him to escape a couple of times because now she knows everything that was going on.

He doesn’t move.

The Ace Ops visit too, snarling and aggressive and there’s nothing he can say. Nothing he wants to say.. Still nursing their wounds from his nieces. They gave them hell and he is so proud of them. If they run into real trouble of course he’ll go help them...but for now this is where he needs to be.

Why did he have to team up with Callows? Why did they have to fight each other first? They should have taken down Callows first then worried about themselves. Why did they have to do things this way?

After the few days he turns into a bird and stays like that. He stares at his wall everything diminished to the brain of a bird. His emotions are smaller, calmer, and it is so much easier to deal with everything inside of him. The pain was just so much, he could feel it. It was breaking him and he needs to be together if the kids need him.

“Oh...Qrow,” a voice says and Qrow doesn’t even look, so many people have come to talk to him. To scream to yell, to hurl insults and anger at him.

He’s kept tabs on his kids, they had even snuck to visit him. They’ve been keeping to the shadows. Stopping Ironwood’s attempts to abandon Mantle and letting The Happy Huntresses in every time. They understood his need to be there. His head isn’t in the game. He’s shaken in more than ways than he can name. He’d be a disaster in battle and he doesn’t think he can hold Harbinger again. Not after that happened. 

There’s something on his beak, some kind of pressure and he opens his eyes and looks at his beak.

Green eyes look back at him. A soft smiling face. 

Clover? No...it’s someone else. It has to be. It can’t be.

“Hey Birdie, come on can we talk,” he says and that’s their nickname.

The transformation is one of the longest he’s ever done. His body bending and reshaping back into positions that he hasn’t had to do in months. It’s painful and by the end he’s groaning and his wincing.

“Birdie,” Clover says with a smile and cups his face in his hands come up towards Qrow’s face and Qrow winces and expects to be hit or killed. His body is shaking.

“Birdie, please look at me,” Clover says and Qrow drags his eyes up to meet him. His body still shaking, if Clover wants to look into his eyes as he dies then he’ll give him that.

“There are those lovely eyes I fell in love with,” Clover says pressing a kiss to his lips.

“How?” Qrow asks and he doesn’t know what he’s asking. How are you alive. How can you trust me? How are you not trying to kill me?

“Atlas has some of the best medical technology on Remnant, and our semblances did some heavy lifting too,” Clover says.

“Sorry,” Qrow mumbles.

“No, I owe you my life. Your semblance hit Callows the moment he hit me and mine hit me just as he stabbed me. Yours made him miss my heart, he hit a couple of my vessels and he did stab a bit of my heart but that’s not important yet. My semblance hit twice. He missed anything immediately lethal. Then it hit that the transport arrived at the perfect time for me to get back here and have emergency surgery and for Mr. Polendina to replace part of my heart with mechanical parts like he had to do with Ironwood.

“Please, make it quick,” Qrow says.

“Make what quick?” Clover asks.

“You killing me, please make it quick. Make it look like I vanished or something. The girls can’t know I am dead. Please don’t do that to them,” Qrow says.

“Birdie, I am not going to kill you. We both made some insanely big mistakes. No offense but you were not the biggest threat in the area Callows was and I should have waited to take you into custody until he was secured and I am so sorry. I didn’t know the story behind why I had to arrest you. I trust Ironwood in a lot of things but I made a promise to Robyn when we were kids that I would never abandoned our home and I won’t. I can’t hurt Mantle like Ironwood wants me to,” Clover says.

“You’re really here? I’m not imagining you,” Qrow asks.

“I’m here Birdie, now you gonna kiss me like you missed me?” Clover asks and suddenly Qrow is diving into his arms and kissing him. 

“I was so scared you were dead. I need to know you’re real,” Qrow says leaning back in the bed and Clover fits himself between his legs.

Their reunion is fast and messy like both of them are trying to simply feel each other and feel their bodies...their lives. Feel the uncontrollable feeling of being alive.

It’s hard, fast, and messy but they are working as hard as humanly possible so they both feel alive.

“Clover! Clover! Qrow sobs out as Clover pins him to the bed and goes harder. 

When they are both finished Qrow lays in Clover’s arms and leans against him eyes drooping.

“Hey, stay awake Birdie. We need to knock some sense into a couple of people,” Clover says and hands a uniform to Qrow.

“A uniform?” Qrow asks.

“And a hat, you’ll pass as one of our lower level soldiers. Ironwood needs to be stopped. He’s not seeing that this plan of his is going to fail. Watts was already in Atlas’ mainframe for hours and obviously he put in some back doors here that Salem can exploit. She’s done it before with a simple bag. No telling what she’ll do is she can get here with a maiden and another Maiden in the wings.

“If you two are done flirting and sleeping together we need to move,” Robyn says poking her head into the room.

“I took the liberty of making some changes to your weapon. When I got out of storage some of my more...aggressive students had had a field day with it. I kept having Marrow sneak it into my hospital room so I could build it,” Clover says and he pulls Harbinger away from the wall and hands it to Qrow. 

“Here you go,” Clover says and Qrow examines it. At the places where the gray and red pieces of his weapon meet it is not tinged with green and there’s a small clover engraved on the hilt of his sword and a cuff with a chain made of small interlocking horseshoe shaped links.

“It will keep it from getting knocked out of your hand and it extends so that you can swing it when in sword form,” Clover says.

“I love it,” Qrow says.

“And I love you,” Clover says. 

“Ugh!” Robyn shouts as she goes sailing into the room manic laughter coming from the door.

“Well, isn’t this cozy. All the people I want to kill in one place. Goodie,” Tyrian says coming into the room coat billowing behind him.

“Not you again,” Clover says.

“Yes me again. So Qrow Branwen are you going to team up with me again? Are you going to betray the man you love again?” Callows cackles and suddenly a large horseshoe is flying through the air and manages to smack Callows in the throat cutting off his laugh.

“I really have had about enough of you,” Clover says jumping into the air and landing on Harbinger’s blade and Qrow uses it to hurl him at Callows. As soon as Clover is in the air Qrow is running behind him. They both crash into him.

The fight is messy. Clover has to stay back because his aura is down because of his surgery. Qrow’s is low because he hasn’t been taking care of himself. Robyn because he drained it when he attacked her.

“Clover give me that harpoon thing you keep in your weapon,” Qrow says and Clover pops it out and hands it over.

“Get over by Robyn and stay there. Your auras are too low!” Qrow says and he runs forwards. Tyrian chuckles wrapping his tail around Qrow’s waist and pulling him in towards his body. Qrow twists his wrist and plunges the harpoon into Callow’s chest.

“Uh,” Callows says as his aura activates. Qrow aims for a different side of his chest and the aura blocks it as well. 

“Do you really think you can really kill me? I’ve nearly killed two of you twice,” Callow says laughing. 

“I will kill you. And I will do all in my power to stop Salem. The only regret is you won’t be here when your queen falls. To watch,” Qrow says and stabs again and again and again and one more time for good measure. Six times in total. 

“You will stop her? That’s laughable. And repetitive, another huntress said the same thing to my queen before she was killed. I swear the blood on that whilte cape of hers was gorgeous,” Callows says and Qrow sucks in a breath.

It can’t be...Summer was killed by...by Salem? No...it can’t be...It can’t be...that would mean Ozpin would have been responsible for her death. Qrow has trouble catching his breath and his vision is swimming.

“Qrow, don’t let him get to you. We will get revenge for your team mate and your family. I promise but don’t let him get in your head! You have my word that we will avenge her. I swear,” Clover says and Callows is laughing and Qrow feels like he’s going to choke on the vomit rising in his chest.

“I look forward to you dying,” Callows says and his aura depletes after Qrow kicks him to get free of his tail.

“Too bad you won’t be around to see it,” Qrow says and raises his hand to stab Tyrian. It goes through his heart from the front as smooth as a hot knife through butter.

Lucky number 7. Thanks Clover.

“Guaaaah!” Tyrian cries out blood splattering his lip and coughing up into the air.

“Qrow watch out!” Clover shouts and he feels himself being yanked by something wrapped around him. 

He crashes into something thick and sturdy and then he’s being pulled in tight. “Well this was lucky,” Clover smiles down at where they are wrapped together in the fishing rod. Clover had pulled him away before Callows could stab him with his tail.

“Thanks,” Qrow says as they watch Callows cough up blood.

“You Bastards! Salem will kill you for this!” Callows says.

“I don’t think she cares about you enough to notice,” Clover says and Qrow hands him Harbinger and Clover wings it through the air and right into Callows’ side and he coughs and falls to his knees.

“Stand aside gentlemen, it’s my turn now,” Robyn says and shoots one of her arrows into his eye.

Callows dies screaming to his goddess and like most deities she never appears. 

At all.

His death is lonely and pathetic.

Just like him.

“Now, let’s go join the kids. They have a final plan to bring General Ironwood down a couple of notches and opening his eyes. Are you with us?” Robyn asks and Clover looks at him.

“Yes, I am,” Qrow says and he pulls Harbinger from Callows’ side. 

“Let’s go knock some sense into Jimmy,” Qrow says and he follows at Clover’s side. Like they were supposed to.

It’s where he belongs.

It’s home.


End file.
